Responding to the UK’s referendum vote in favour of leaving the EU, Kate Allen Amnesty’s UK Director, said:

“People will want reassurance that their rights will be safeguarded and the government has a duty to publicly commit to protecting those rights.

“Whether the UK is a member of the EU or not, it remains beholden to an international human rights system, whose norms it should continue to uphold and whose mechanisms it should continue to respect.

“Even as it negotiates its exit, the UK government should be looking to preserve the strong rights protections that originated in EU law – particularly in areas such as non-discrimination, the right to privacy and worker’s rights.

“The Brexit debate was sadly contaminated by unpleasant xenophobic undertones: wherever it is that the UK is now heading, these sentiments and this kind of politics should have no place.

“The challenge now, is to focus on what unites us rather than what divides us and universal human rights are central to that.”